White House press briefing goes off the rails as CNN's Jim Acosta battles with Sarah Huckabee Sanders over whether the media is 'enemy of the people'

Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Thursday declined to answer a question from CNN's Jim Acosta whether she considered the press to be the "enemy" of the American people.

source

Evan Vucci/AP

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders
declined to answer a question from CNN's Jim Acosta about
whether she considered the press to be the "enemy" of the
American people, as President Donald Trump has stated in the
past.

Sanders would not provide a specific answer on this
question and instead bashed the press for its approach to
various issues.

Sanders also accused Acosta, who was recently heckled
at a Trump rally, of "lowering the level of conversation in the
country."

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Thursday
declined to answer a question from CNN's Jim Acosta about whether
she considered the press to be the "enemy" of the American
people, as President Donald Trump has stated in the past.

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Sanders would not provide a specific answer to this question and
instead bashed the press for its approach to various issues,
including over how she was treated by comedian Michelle Wolf at
this year's White House Correspondents' Dinner.

Sanders said the White House Correspondents' Association
"brought a comedian up to attack my appearance."

Sanders also accused Acosta, who was recently heckled at a Trump
rally, of "lowering the level of conversation in the
country."

This is the second day in a row in which Sanders has lambasted
the media. On Wednesday, Sanders accused the press of putting
lives in danger by reporting on classified intelligence, citing
an urban myth regarding coverage of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin
Laden from roughly 20 years ago.

The White House press secretary has continuously stood by the
president in terms of his controversial rhetoric and demeanor
toward the media.

Trump has repeatedly referred to the press as the "enemy of the
American people" and "FAKE NEWS." The president has often singled
out individual reporters at his rallies or directed more general
negative remarks at members of the media covering his events.

Earlier on Thursday, Ivanka Trump, the eldest daughter of Trump
and assistant to the president, broke with her father and said
she did not believe the press is the "enemy."